Final Rating: 3.5/5
Everyone has their secrets… A Private Life is a French film from director Rebecca Zlotowski starring Jodi Foster as Lilian Steiner, a highly regarded psychiatrist. Written by Zlotowsi, Anne Berest and Gaëlle Macé, Lilian’s life is seemingly routine and structured when out of the blue she’s informed that her patient Paula (Virgine Efira) has committed suicide. After attending a memorial service, or at least attempting to, as she’s abruptly kicked out by Paula’s husband Simon (Mathieu Amalric) who blames her for failing his wife, she begins to question herself.
Shortly afterwards she’s approached by Paula’s daughter Valérie (Luàna Bajrami) who is expecting a child of her own. She expresses her belief that her mother would not have done such a thing. On top of this tragedy, she is served papers as another client is suing her for not being able to cure his smoking habit, claiming that a hypnotist did in one session, after years of her attempts to break this vice, and wants his money back.
After looking over some details regarding Paula’s case, and listening to several recordings she keeps of each session on old fashioned disc, Lilian can’t help feeling there is more to the story, perhaps even something nefarious. She then enlists the help of her ex-husband Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), an eye doctor, to assist her on this quest. They track down various leads and follow up on her suspicions until she’s sure they’re placated. She also enlists the help of the hypnotist her client utilized, against her professional judgement, which inevitably may be more revealing than she’d imagined.
The relationships at the heart of the story are what drive it forward, and this time spent with Gabriel conveniently gives them a chance to rekindle their own romance and many of the more touching or funnier moments are between the two who play off each other expertly. Lilian also has to come to terms with the oft distant relationship she has with her son Julien (Vincent Lacoste) who has a family of his own, with a newborn son.
As Lilian and Gabriel dig deeper into the lives of Paula and her family, they discover that everyone seems to have some kind of secret. As with many a whodunit’s (not that this falls squarely in the genre, more adjacent), each potential suspect is disparaged in some manner, or at least questioned as to what they’d have to gain. At one point Lilian’s home office is burglarized, and a recording of her last session with Paula is discovered to be missing. Could this have contained the truth as to what happened to Paula, or the guilty party covering their tracks? As the plot unfolds, Lilian is forced to confront her part in it.
Much of the movie is centered around Lilian and Foster’s performance is wonderful, exhibiting all the necessary emotional ups and downs she goes through and inevitably learns through the error of her ways. The mix of light hearted moments, with tension, anger, frustration, fear, and warmth are brought to life in all their sentiment. Ultimately it’s about the nature of connecting and truly listening. Too often we hear, but are we truly making note of what it is we’re told? Are we really present for people in our lives or just there? The story moves well and there is enough humour mixed in to give it a very real quality at least in regards to the human element, and a lesson we should all strive to take away.
A Private Life was seen during the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
